Do you
suffer from tension headaches? If you do, next time you feel like a bad
headache is coming on, instead of reaching for a painkiller, try this:

Put a
pencil between your teeth for a couple of minutes but don't bite it. This
little trick will automatically relax your jaw muscle, which quickly will prevent
the pain from escalating and it will actually get rid of the pain all together.

Supposedly, people who are prone to stress or anxiousness, subconsciously clench
their jaw and teeth which results in straining of the muscle that connects the
jaw to the temples which triggers a tension headache. Ha, who knew? Brilliant, isn’t it? My
mom’s husband swears by it! I’m yet to give this a go. What do you think? Would you try it? xo

I love this tip and am trying it right as I type. My dermatologist told me that I am grinding my teeth, apparently people do this as they get older--great right? And that can't help the headaches so I'm willing to try anything that helps.xo Mary Jo

Aha! As soon as I saw this post title I thought that's what you'd say! I know for a while there I was convinced I had some disorder in which you constantly get headaches and ear pain from your jaw. I don't but it did teach me to relax my jaw when i get a bad headache :)

I'll try, it makes a lot of sense doesn't it? Though this tip would have been particularly useful over the last four years when I was doing my PhD! Thanks for sharing Diana, I might include it in one of my PhD Thursday posts xoxoxo